Abstract

In this letter we report the carrier mobilities in an inorganic nanocrystal:conducting polymercomposite. The composite material in question (lead sulphide nanocrystals in the conducting polymer poly (MEH-PPV) was made using a single-pot, surfactant-free synthesis. Mobilties were measured using time of flight techniques. We have found that the inclusion of PbSnanocrystals in MEH-PPV both balances and markedly increases the hole and electron mobilities—thehole mobility is increased by a factor of and the electron mobility increased by under an applied bias of . These results explain why dramatic improvements in electrical conductivity and photovoltaic performance are seen in devices fabricated from these composites.

Received 14 February 2005Accepted 01 November 2005Published online 14 December 2005

Acknowledgments:

The work was funded by the Australian Research Council. A.W. thanks the University of Queensland for an International Postgraduate Research Scholarship. The authors would like to acknowledge the help of Chris McNeil at Newcastle University, Australia with film thickness measurements and Tim Mcintyre, Chris Vale, and Andrew White at the University of Queensland for experimental assistance.